Axiom 4 Mission: ISRO announces 19th June as the new launch date; preparations underway
The Axiom-4 mission that would take Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla to the ISS is scheduled to launch on June 19, 2025.
Aadrika Tayal 
New Delhi (India) June 15: According to an update from the Indian Space Research Organisation, Indian astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla is expected to board a flight to the International Space Station on June 19.
ISRO said, "During a follow-on coordination meeting between ISRO, Axiom Space, and SpaceX, it was confirmed that the liquid oxygen leak observed in the Falcon 9 launch vehicle has been successfully resolved. Separately, Axiom Space informed that they are working closely with NASA to assess the pressure anomaly in the Zvezda Service Module on board the International Space Station. Axiom Space is now targeting June 19, 2025, for the launch of the Ax-04 mission” in a statement.
A leak of liquid oxygen found on the Falcon-9 rocket, a malfunction at the International Space Station, where astronauts would spend 14 days, and weather-related delays have caused the mission to be postponed five times.
The mission was originally scheduled for May 29, but it was rescheduled for June 8, June 10, and June 11.
India has paid Rs 550 crores for a ticket for an Indian astronaut on the commercial Axiom-4 mission which is run by Houston-based Axiom Space in collaboration with NASA.
A four-person international crew will travel to the International Space Station (ISS) on a Falcon-9 rocket in a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft as part of the Axiom-4 mission, also known as Mission Akash Ganga. The crew consists of Tibor Kapu from Hungary, Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski from Poland, and Dr. Peggy Whitson from the United States, who serves as mission specialist. The assigned pilot for this operation is Group Captain Shukla.
India needs Ax-4 to be successful in order to give practical experience in emergency preparedness, microgravity experiments, launch procedures, and spaceflight operations. Shukla's findings are crucial to ISRO's preparation for the eagerly awaited Ganganyaan mission.
Group Captain Shukla will be India's second astronaut or Gaganyatri after Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma, who visited the Russian space station in 1984 as part of an Indo-Soviet goodwill mission.
A static test conducted on the Falcon-9 rocket when it was standing tall on the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida revealed a liquid oxygen leak which caused SpaceX to announce technical issues with the rocket on Thursday.
ISRO stepped in and asked for a "validation" of the fixes. The astronauts will spend 14 days on the space station and the rocket is currently prepared for takeoff.
Aadrika Tayal
